It’s hip to be green, but you already knew that unless you’re living on another planet. Say what you will about the true nature and practicality of “going green”, it sure does make for great marketing. Japan is already in the midst of a major Eco/Green movement that, for all its sentiment, may or may not do much for the intended goal. One green industry that has shown progress, albeit slight, is agriculture. Japan’s self-sufficiency ratio has recovered to 40%, the first increase in thirteen years.
In a unique tie-in to local production, many of Japan’s traditional Izakayas have been going green as well, but for a different reason. While these local watering holes have long used red lanterns to advertise themselves, many have switched to the green variety to show that they’re using locally grown produce.
The trend first began in Hokkaido and has since spread to cover over 1,000 establishments across the country. The movement has its own website as well at Midori Chouchin (Green Lantern). Here you can learn about the organization behind the lanterns as well as how the system works by denoting the percentage of local products used by the number of stars on the lantern (1 star means 50%).
With anshin 安心 (piece of mind) and anzen 安全 (safety) being major keywords in Japan, the lanterns are also saying that the food is safe, as most Japanese trust Japan-grown produce more than foreign goods. However, an unintentional side effect may be that the green could also be interpreted as meaning “expensive” as well.
Michael is the Editor of JapanTrends.com and Director of the 
That’s the first I’ve seen of that. I’ll be on the lookout for the green lanterns when I’m in Japan later this year.